Hensarling mum on whether GOP will cut below $61 billion

The chairman of the House Republican Conference refused to
say whether House Republicans would pass a government spending bill that
cut federal spending by less than $61 billion.

Asked by "Fox News
Sunday" host Chris Wallace whether House Republicans would have the support
of their Tea Party base and freshmen Republicans elected by the Tea
Party if they came to a compromise with congressional Democrats to cut
federal spending by less than $61 billion (the current proposal by House
Republicans), Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) failed to give a direct
answer.

"All I can say is here's what we're going to fight for: what we're
going to fight for is putting America on a fiscally stable path,"
Hensarling said.

Hensarling cautioned that Republicans could
only enact so much of the agenda the GOP ran on in 2010 because they currently only control the House.

"Unfortunately, we all well know that Republicans only control one of three levers of lawmaking," Hensarling said

But, Hensarling said, House Republicans were not going to pass bills that did not dramatically cut down the deficit.

Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill have failed to come to a
compromise on a longterm federal spending bill because neither party has
been able to come up with a federal spending reduction the other side
has agreed on. The $61 billion proposal by House Republicans has
received criticism by the conservative wing of the Republican Party for
cutting spending by an insufficiently small amount.